GE Capital to take stake in US Airways ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) =97 A federal court on Thursday approved a plan= for=20 GE Capital to take a stake of up to 5% in US Airways in exchange for $830=20 million in financing. The deal was included in a series of motions approved= =20 by Judge Stephen Mitchell of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern=20 District of Virginia that are crucial to the carrier's attempt to=20 reorganize under Chapter 11. The airline is seeking court approval at a=20 hearing for its reorganization plan before presenting it to creditors. The= =20 airline filed for bankruptcy protection in August and hopes to emerge in=20 March. Under the agreement with the airline's largest creditor, GE Capital= =20 will provide US Airways with $120 million in emergency financing to help=20 run its operations during bankruptcy. That amount is on top of the $500=20 million already being provided to the airline by its largest investor,=20 Retirement Systems of Alabama. The state pension fund is taking a 36 %=20 stake in the airline. GE Capital would also provide $360 million in=20 financing once US Airways emerges from bankruptcy and another $350 million= =20 of equity to start up leases on regional jets. A cornerstone of US Airways'= =20 future business plan involves expanded use of regional jets. In return, GE Capital, the financing arm of General Electric, will get up=20 to a 5% stake in US Airways along with 3.6 million shares of preferred=20 stock. The agreement with GE Capital removed one potential obstacle to=20 court approval of the restructuring plan. Another issue that could come up,= =20 is the airline's pension problems. Its pension plan is $3.1 billion=20 below-target and the pilots' plan has only half the assets it needs to=20 repay its liabilities. David Siegel, the airline's president, told=20 reporters on Tuesday the company would terminate the pilots' plan if the=20 government did not agree to let the airline string out pension payments=20 over 30 years. Siegel said resolving the pension problem was crucial to=20 obtaining a $900 million federal loan guarantee and restructuring the=20 airline's finances. Legislation to permit US Airways to draw out pension=20 payments beyond the time frame allowed under current law is pending in=20 Congress. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.atlanticlng.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************